The Awakening
by korrasamishipper
Summary: <html><head></head>Korra wakes up after her fight with Zaheer.</html>
1. Chapter 1

Korra opened her eyes and allowed her eyes to adjust to the darkness around her. She soon realized that she was in her room on Air Temple Island, the familiar window frame and the feel of her bed giving it away. She couldn't recall how she got there, but she remembered everything that happened before the avatar state took over with her fight with the Red Lotus.

Korra ached and when she tried to sit up a sharp pain went through her entire body. She suppressed a scream, but a loud groan still made its way from her clenched teeth. All of the sudden something next to her shifted.

Korra's reflexes told her to do something, anything, to just move and get away from whatever was in the room with her, but she couldn't, the pain was too much.

"Korra?"

Korra's tension slipped away as she realized that it was Asami that was in the room with her. Her voice sounded surprised, relieved and scared all at the same time.

"What happened?" Korra asked hoarsely.

All Korra heard for an answer was Asami sniffling in the darkness.

"Asami? What happened? Tell me," Korra started to get scared. Why couldn't Asami just answer her? Was Korra dying? What happened? "Asami, please. Am I… is Zahe…"

Korra never finished saying the name as she felt Asami lunge at her, hugging her and sobbing. "You're ok, Korra you're ok," Asami held Korra tightly in her hands. "I thought I lost you today," Asami cried into Korra's shoulder.

"Zaheer almost…he…" Asami couldn't finish.

Korra tried to hug her back, but her arms were too tired and there was too much pain when she tried to move. After a while Asami calmed down a bit and looked into Korra's eyes, "I'm really happy that you survived."

"Yeah," Korra said softly as she looked away from her companion.

"Where's Zaheer?"

"They took him to prison, he won't get out again."

"Ok."

Korra suddenly felt exhausted and her limbs started to singe.

"Ah, Asami my legs! Ouch! Ow, they feel like they're on fire!" Korra yelled, her hands clenching onto the bed. She felt her heart beating impossibly fast as her legs burned. Asami jumped off the avatar and ran out of the room yelling desperately for a doctor, for someone who could help, for anyone. Sweat poured down Korra's temples, and she screamed.

After what felt like an eternity, Asami sprinted back into the room followed by a doctor, and then by what seemed like the entire population of the island. So many people there, seeing her in this state made Korra mad. How can they think this is ok, to stand and watch her when she's at her weakest.

The doctor took out the water from his pouch and it started to glow as it washed over Korra's legs. The pain dulled, but it was still unbearable.

"Get them out! GET OUT!" Korra screamed to the group of the people in her room. She saw Mako and Bolin leave the room followed by the Beifongs and finally Aang's family. The only people left in the room were the doctor, Korra's father, and Asami, but she was also beginning to move towards the door. Korra felt panic as her best friend began to leave.

"Asami, stay. Please," she begged, her voice was shrill and she was crying.

Asami's eyes widened in surprised, but she came back over to the bed anyway, taking Korra's hand even as it was still gripping the covers. As their hands touched, Korra's hand released its grip on the bed and took Asami's instead. She gripped her tightly for the rest of the healing session.

Korra didn't see her father leave but when the doctor finished up, and her face was no longer contorted in pain, she saw that only Asami was with her.

"I'm sorry," Korra said, "for not stopping them sooner. Some avatar I turned out to be."

"What? Why are you sorry? You did everything right. Everything you've done made this world better and no one can say otherwise. It's barely been a year since you came here and already you saved this city and the word so many times." Asami looked as determined as a person could, "you are an amazing avatar and you did all that yourself."

Korra just looked at her as tears shed from the blue eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter has been beta'd by the lovely tumblr user loizeaux!**

It's been three days since the battle, and Korra wasn't getting any better. She was in constant pain, her whole body sore and hurting, except her legs. She had lost all feeling in her legs soon after waking up that night following the fight. The doctor stayed on the island and checked on her several times a day, but there was not much he could do for her, other than to have her wait. He told Tonraq that the poison damaged Korra's nerves, but she would be able to regain some feeling after physical therapy.

Asami stayed too. She was always by Korra's side, ready at a moment's notice to do whatever she needed. She remained in Korra's room most of the time, waiting for her to get better, and even resorted to sleeping on a cot, by her bed. Korra, however, never uttered a word. She just laid there, her body convulsing from the occasional pains. The doctor told them that the pain would subside soon, since the poison was out of her system, but Korra wasn't getting better. Asami thought that, if anything, she was getting worse.

Korra spent all day staring at the ceiling, not moving, sweat covering her body as she tried to ignore the pain. Occasionally it would get unbearable, and she would whimper, as tears poured down the sides of her face, while Asami held her hand and attempted to distract her.

After three days of this, Asami had enough. When Korra's father came in to check up on her, Asami quietly left the room to track down Lin or Suyin. She entered the living room where everyone usually gathered, and saw Suyin pouring herself some tea, Bolin napping on the couch, his head in Opal's lap, and Jinora chatting quietly with Kai at the table. They all looked her way as she entered, save for the sleeping boy. The surprise was evident in their faces as they watched her approach the older woman.

"Asami, has something happened to Korra?" Kai asked quickly, his face looking panicked.

"No, she's with her dad," Asami spoke, softly, sounding tired and worn out. "Suyin, can I have a word with you please."

"Of course," Suyin put the pot down and followed Asami out as the others followed them across the room with their eyes. When they were behind closed doors they spoke.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"Are you sure you got all the poison out?"

Suyin's eyes widened. "Um, I believe so. I'm not sure, everything was happening so quickly, I just pulled the metal out as fast as I could."

"Can you check? I can't watch her suffer like that. She's my best friend. Please," Asami pleaded.

"Let's go," Suyin said with strong resolve.

They marched down to Korra's room, getting the doctor on the way there, in case something went wrong. When they told Korra what they planned to try, she looked surprised. Asami's heart leaped in her chest as she watched Korra display some emotion. Tonraq removed himself from the chair by her bed, as soon as they told him the plan, and Suyin took his place. As she settled in, she closed her eyes in concentration and lifted her hands over Korra's body.

"I feel it!" She said, startled. "It's coursing through her bloodstream."

"Can you get it out!" Korra shouted as she tried to sit up. As soon as her muscles readied to lift her up, she let out a loud scream, as her face contorted in pain.

"Korra!" Asami was by her side in a blink of an eye, grabbing her hand and holding her shoulder down gently in an attempt to comfort her.

"Ok, Korra. I'm going to begin. Stay still," Suyin started to move her hands along the length of Korra's body in small, circular patterns.

Asami felt Korra grip her hand tightly, and saw the strain in the girl's face as Suyin bent a miniscule amount of poison out of her mouth. As soon as the metal was out, Korra relaxed a little, until she looked over at the metal that was floating above her.

"That's it?" Korra felt defeated. There was barely any poison taken out, a small handful, which meant that her body really was that harmed, and it wasn't the metal in her that was doing it, because there wasn't any trace of it left. "Get out," she whispered.

"Korra?" Asami didn't know if Korra wanted her gone too.

Korra just turned her head towards the wall and laid there quietly, so Asami stood up and followed everyone out the room. Tonraq took one of the chairs that sat outside her room and sat down. He motioned for Asami to join him, and she pulled up another chair.

"She'll get better, you know," Asami told the waterbender.

"I have no doubt that she will," he smiled at her gently. "In fact, I honestly believe she'll come out stronger." He placed his hand on her shoulder, and they sat there in silence for a long time, guarding the person they loved most.

_**Korra still has poison in her, even after this chapter. I just thought it would be cool if Su was a bit careless at the battlefield and didn't properly treat Korra. So she still has the poison she later took out at the swamp in her.**_


	3. Chapter 3

Asami cursed at the traffic light as it turned red before she could pass it. She slammed down the on breaks nearly causing the car behind her to crash into her. Her fingers drummed against the steering wheel sporadically, and her left foot tapped against the foot mat by the crutch. She didn't have time for this; the vice-presidents of Future Industries had requested a meeting with her since she was absent for so long due to her journey with the Avatar. The meeting was not nearly as urgent as they made it out to be and she ended up with most of the day wasted. She glared at the red bulb above the street, willing it to hurry the hell up, until it changed to green, and she was off. Her car purred loudly as she raced down crowded streets, weaving between cars and trolleys. Her hand was clamped down onto the gearstick, knuckles white, shifting the speeds occasionally to accommodate the reckless driving she displayed. She pulled into her parking space by the docks, a trip that usually took nearly half an hour, in only ten minutes' time. The sun was already beginning it's descend when she started her motor boat and steered herself towards the island where the person she cared for most resided.

Asami entered the living room of the temple and began walking down the hall to the women's quarters. The closer she got to Korra's room the more anxious she felt. _What if Korra felt extra bad today and I wasn't there_. Asami pushed the thought out of her head as she reached the room. She placed her palm on the door, preparing to open it, and stopped dead in her tracks. She could hear Meelo shouting giddily, and Ikki arguing with Jinora, but what made her stop was another sound: Korra's laughter.

She gently pushed the door open and poked her head through. The scene unfolding around her was not what she expected to see. Every surface in the room was covered in lemurs. The desk, the top of the closet, the windowsill, and most of the floor all had lemurs on it, crowding each other. The ones who weren't sitting were flying around the room haphazardly. She saw Meelo flying around the room on his scooter, trying to catch one, determination etched on his childish face. Ikki was standing at the foot of Korra's bed, hands tensing at her sides as she yelled at her older sister about not getting to be the one to sit closest to Korra, while Jinora tried her best to ignore her sister and instead focused on telling Korra about her upcoming ceremony.

Even with all the chaos going on, Asami's eyes drifted to the girl resting in the bed. Korra was leaning back against the headboard of the bed, holding her stomach as she laughed so hard that tears poured from her eyes. She was covered in lemurs: one on either shoulder, several in her lap, and one perched on her head. They swarmed around the bed and Meelo glided over her in time to catch one, finally. And Korra was laughing.

Asami dared not to walk in on the moment, wanting it to last for as long as it could, and so she took another look at her dear friend and quietly shut the door. She took her spot in a chair outside the room, the same chair she sat in when she talked to Korra's father, and waited.

She must have dozed off because when she opened her eyes the corridor was dark, the lanterns no longer lit, and the room next to her lacked the chattering of an army of lemurs. She realized that someone put a blanket on her as she slept, and she carefully slipped it off of herself and stood up to check on Korra. She silently slid the door open and peeked in. Korra seemed to be sleeping, the light from her window cascading her in a cool glow. Asami was about to let her be, when a broken whisper pieced the air.

"Please don't leave."

Asami could have sworn that people across the island could have heard the sound of her heart breaking. This was different, wrong. For the past eleven days she watched Korra break down nearly every night, but those sobs were raw and uncontained, those were the type of sobs that made the shoulders shake and the breathing hitch, the type that made the chest hurt. What Asami witnessed as she approached her at this moment was not a weeping, shaking girl, it was much worse. Korra lay in her bed, Asami could now tell that she was staring at her ceiling, clutching the covers to her chest. Her face wasn't red and puffy from crying, it was stoic. Her eyes were red and the bags under them were prominent not from the crying but from tiredness, yet tear-streaks glistened down her temples and into her hair.

The scariest part was that Korra looked calm. Asami was in such despair about Korra always looking anguished these past days, that she could never imagine herself wishing to see a sad Korra. But that's what she wanted to see now. She knew how to help a sad Korra, she would hold her and talk to her in hushed tones, she would distract her. She did not, however, know what to do with a calm and eerily quiet Korra who was obviously in more pain than Asami ever seen her in.

Asami stopped by Korra's bed, terrified for her. She felt tears pool at her eyes and fall to her cheeks.

"Korra. What happened?" Her voice broke halfway through the sentence.

"Can we just lay here for a little while?"

Asami sat on the edge of her bed and took Korra's hand into her own, gripping it tightly. In that moment she felt beyond helpless. "Korra, earlier today…with the kids…you seemed so-" _happy_. Asami realized what she almost said. Her eyes locked onto Korra's, but she didn't react to Asami's carelessness and continued staring at her ceiling. Asami's hands trembled, so she held Korra's hand tighter in an attempt to stifle the shaking. Korra must have noticed. She tore her gaze away and finally looked at Asami, her brows scrunched up in worry and she leaned up on her elbows.

"How was your day 'Sami?" she whispered, her tone full of compassion.

"My day?" Asami asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Was it ok?"

"I should have been here with you."

"That bad huh?"

"It's not my day I'm worried about. Korra, you're acting weird."

"You mean I'm not crying my guts out? Let's face it, I'll never get better so there's no point in fighting it." Korra spoke calmly and evenly, even though tears still slid from her eyes.

Asami couldn't believe what she was hearing. Korra, her Korra, giving up so quickly, it was unheard of. Her giving up at all was unheard of. "I don't want to ever hear you say that. Do you understand? Never. Say. That. Again."

"Asami I'm broken, literally. Nothing is working like it should and my legs don't work at all. I can't even get off the damn bed let alone create world peace." Her voice steadily picked up in volume and intensity, her anger suddenly slipping through. "I can't feed myself or clothe myself. Everyone is pitying me, and you can't even go to work without feeling guilty as shit. You think I don't notice? I'm not stupid Asami! I might be rash and impulsive, but I'm not stupid. Don't you see? I've been fulfilling my duty for less than two years and I nearly died three damn times! It's one psycho after another and it will never stop!"

"It will st-"

"It won't! Not in this lifetime, not in the next! The Avatars have been doing this for ten thousand years. Ravaa did it alone for spirits know how long before Wan came along. It will NEVER stop! The world says it doesn't need me?! Fuck them! I've been out of commission for less than two weeks and they're running to me already. The earth kingdom is crumbling, and they expect me to fix it, but I CAN'T. And if I could, they would find something to be unhappy about. Asami this world broke me."

"I don't care about the world Korra. I need you. You know that. Please…just don't give up."

"Asami, I wanted this so bad, but we can't do it right now. I can't handle it. …I can't handle much of anything at the moment."

"Then recover," Asami whispered so quietly that Korra almost missed it.

Korra looked at her with so much pain in her eyes. "How?"

"We'll figure it out."

They just stayed there, in the quiet and dark room, for several minutes before Asami spoke up again.

"You know, it's funny, we never acknowledged it before now."

"I know how you feel, you know how I do, we both acknowledged it, we just never talked about it."

"Why is that?" Asami asked curiously.

"I don't know. Maybe we both know there's no time for that right now."

Asami released Korra's hand and took off her shoes, before lying down next to her. She wrapped her arm around Korra's waist and rested her head against Korra's shoulder. "I'll wait for you, you know. I'll wait until you're ready."

"I know."


End file.
